Work-rate and desire will be key in this potential dogfight

Preview

Damien Donohoe

This is the draw Cavan supporters wanted. Down are one of the strongest teams in the Tailteann Cup and Conor Laverty will bring them on a revenge mission to Kingspan Breffni this weekend (Saturday, 5.15pm).

Attendances have been low so far but this rematch should kick start the Cavan supporters’ interest in this years Tailteann Cup because of the nature of the game when the sides met earlier this year.

Cavan came away with a comfortable seven-point win back on March 5 but in the first half Down firmly parked the bus after snatching an early goal. Mickey Graham’s side had to be patient while on the ball and probe to find gaps in a very crowded scoring zone.

Cavan’s first four points of the game came from dead balls with the home side controlling possession for long periods. To Cavan’s credit, they managed to go in at the break level thanks to Cian Madden’s point three minutes before the break, with the score 0-5 to 1-2.

When the half-time whistle sounded, the Down manager Laverty became animated, encouraging his players to run into the dressing rooms. That lead to an incident that saw himself and Cavan coach Ryan McMenamin receiving yellow cards and the Down coach Mickey Donnelly getting a red card and a 12-week suspension for a minor physical interference with a linesman.

Cavan came out in the second half and scored a point from the throw-in through James Smith to take the lead for the first time. Two more points quickly followed, forcing Down to come out of their blanket defence and leaving loads of space for the Cavan attack to make hay. In an impressive second half, Cavan’s top scorer on the day was Paddy Lynch hitting 2-5.

Coming into that game, Down had won three of the four league outings with a one-point loss to Fermanagh representing their only defeat. Coming out of Kingspan Breffni, Down needed to win all their remaining games and hope that other results went their way to still have a chance at promotion. They also knew where the bar was set as Cavan proved a level or two higher.

The problem is that since that day, Cavan haven’t hit that level of performance consistently and in truth the second half of the league final and the win over Offaly the last day out are the only times in the seven games since that they performed to a similar standard.

Watching Down against Longford, our neighbours to the south will be disappointed that they didn’t take enough of the goal chances that came their way in the first half. With Longford holding the lead at the break, Down showed in the second half that they had another gear to go to and the athletic ability to out-work Longford all over the field, eventually turning a three-point deficit into an eight-point win.

Down have goals in the team as they’ve hit 19 of them in the 13 games they’ve played between league and championship. The only game they didn’t hit the net in was the Ulster Championship semi-final against Armagh which they conceded four at the other end. This is most definitely something Down will go after against a Cavan side who have let in 12 goals in their last 12 games. The last clean sheet for Cavan was in round four of the league against Offaly in Tullamore.

Cavan are averaging a goal a game on the attack and may just target a couple of goals this Saturday evening as Down have a habit of letting them in, too.

They have kept three clean sheets this year but have seen 16 green flags raised since the start of the league. Armagh bagged two goals from shots dropping short and the Down keeper and full-back line not dealing well with the high ball coming in. So Cavan’s full forward line will need to chase everything that looks like it may drop short.

The indicators say that this should be a high scoring game with Down averaging 18.3 points per game while Cavan better that with 19.4 so far this season. Down concede an average of 14.9 points per game while Cavan are better again with 13.7 but I don’t expect it to be that open.

Down appear to play with two different systems and the systems depending on who their opponent is. If it’s a side that they feel they can match physically and technically, they are less defensive and try to leave players up the field when defending. Teams they feel that they may be behind in terms of physically or technically they will allow to win their own kick-out short and bring 15 players inside their 45-metre line. If they force a turnover, it is then a very fast break to try to exploit the space left behind.

Cavan will come into the game with a stronger panel than they’ve had so far in the Tailteann Cup. With Dara McVeety getting game time against Offaly, he would be expected to feature and Mickey Graham said in his post-match interview that Conor Madden, Jason McLoughlin, Gerard Smith, Martin Reilly and Conor Smith are training so the competition for places is looking fierce.

Cavan’s style of play against Offaly was brilliant to watch and very hard to defend against. There were very few solos, the ball-carrier had multiple options to pass to and the ball moved forward quickly most of the time. Cavan looked to get the ball to the scoring zone before Offaly got their bodies back.

Physically Cavan are further down the line than this Down team but the Mourne men will try to make this a dog fight. I would expect Down to give Cavan the kick-out in the early stages and particularly if Down are in front. If Cavan can get an early lead, they should be able to play havoc with their restarts as there will be some mismatches in the middle eight.

Like most games, the biggest contributing factor to the outcome will be desire. If Cavan bring the same work ethic and energy to the game on Saturday that they did against Offaly, then they should come away with a win and get back to Croke Park for the semi-final.